Zwölf europäische Sportjournalistenverbände sagen Teilnahme ab

AIPS-Kongress in Antalya

01.12.2017 Der Internationale Sportjournalistenverband plant seinen nächsten Kongress 2018 in Antalya. Zwölf europäische Verbände, darunter auch der VDS, lehnen die Teilnahme ab. In der Türkei gebe es massive Verstöße gegen Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit. Der sportjournalist dokumentiert den Offenen Brief an das AIPS-Exekutivkomitee um Präsident Gianni Merlo im englischen Original.
 
Dear Mr President,
dear members of the AIPS Executive Committee,

we have major concerns regarding next year’s AIPS Congress. Given the current situation in Turkey, we cannot participate in the 2018 Congress to be held in Antalya.

Several media outlets in Turkey have been forcefully shut down and many Turkish journalists have been imprisoned for doing their job. Attending the Congress would signal that we as journalists do not object to these practices. We therefore believe that the actions of the Turkish government regarding freedom of the press and the treatment of our Turkish journalist colleagues call for a reaction.

We regret how this might affect our sports journalists colleagues in Turkey, who are of course not to blame in this unfortunate situation. We respect their effort in organising the Congress, and look forward to cooperating with them inside AIPS. Hopefully we can come to Turkey another time, when conditions for the Turkish press have improved.

On behalf of the Sports Journalists Associations in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
 
Hans Peter Trost                                               David Naert
Sports Media Austria                                        Sportspress.be                     

Andreas Kraul                                                   Kalle Virtapohja
Danske Sportsjournalister                                Sportwriters Association Finland

Jean-Marc Michel                                             Erich Laaser
Union des Journalistes de Sports en France    Verband Deutscher Sportjournalisten

Eiríkur Stefán Ásgeirsson                                 Petz Lahure
Sportpress.is                                                    Sportspress.lu

Gio Lippens                                                      Reidar Sollie
Nederlandse Sport Pers                                   Norske Sportjournalisters Forbund

Lisa Edwinsson                                                 Janine Geigele
Svenska Sportjournalist Forbundet                  Sportpress.ch